Best New Features in Revit 2018.1

The new patch is here.

Read the complete blog post from Autodesk here.

Here is a rundown of the most interesting new features from an architecture point of view.

1- Organize Schedules in Project Browser

This feature has been on the request list for a long time. Schedules can now be organized on the project browser. It works the exact same way as regular views.

Also, it is now possible to add parameters to Schedules. That means you can have custom parameters to sort and filter schedules the way you prefer.

Below, we test the new Grouping/Sorting feature with the custom "Schedule Type" parameter.

Now this is not a new feature, but it is useful to know: View Templates can be applied to schedules. The only settings you can add to the view template are Appearance and Phase Filter. Schedules can be sorted in the Project Browser by View Template if you want to.

These improvements will be very helpful, especially for large projects with 100+ schedules. Now, can we have the same thing for Legends?

2- Dynamo Player Is Improved

It is now possible to ask for user inputs in the dynamo player. For example, we have the "Add Levels Above Selected Level" script. By clicking the parameters icon, Dynamo Player will ask you for more details. You can customize how want the script to be used without having to go to the dynamo interface. This allows people who don't know how to use dynamo more flexibility when using the player.

In this example, we have to select a level and choose how many additional levels we want to create.

Click the "select" button and pick a level in Revit. Then click play to activate the script.

The feature is useful, but there seem to have a few bugs. I had crashes while using the player, and some of the default script are a little awkward to use. It took me a few minutes to understand how to select lines in the "Calculate Total Length Of Selected Lines" script.

Other New Features

NEW ARCHITECTURE COMPONENTS

If you are a beginner and don't have a large custom family library, Revit has new elements for you. Content includes office cubicles, furniture, windows, and an appliance library.

VISUAL MATERIAL API

For programming nerds out there, you can customize appearance assets using code. That means it is possible to use 3rd party tools to make changes to material finishes.